Brotherhood
by Rumbleroar'sSlumberingCubs
Summary: What would Obi Wan Kenobi be thinking as he fled the scene of his former padawan's impending death. Hopefully my story is better than the summary :)


Author's Note: Hi! I'm a massive Obi Wan fan and I've always had this little idea floating around in my head and thought, hey, maybe if I write it down it won't be too terrible! So let me know what you think with a review! Also, the italic stuff is a memory!

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_**Screams could be heard everywhere and bodies fell every few seconds with a dull thud. Obi Wan absolutely hated it. He hated running from explosions and slicing apart droids and trying so hard not to think of the civilian casualties. "Have you got my back, Master?" Anakin asked with a smirk on his face. "I'm always cleaning up your messes," Obi Wan replied with a small smile.**_

He didn't have his back this time. Obi Wan felt ten years older and he couldn't believe what he'd just done. Essentially, Obi Wan Kenobi had just killed his best friend. He had to leave, couldn't look any longer at the man he had considered a brother, a son, a friend burning, dying.

_**Sweat dripped down a fifteen year old Anakin Skywalker's face. He kept seeing his Master leaving him, abandoning him to die. Never, he kept telling himself; never would Obi Wan Kenobi leave him. He tried to stop the shudders and the tears, but Obi Wan knew. He always knew. He bolted into his young padawan's room having felt the disturbance through their bond. "Anakin?" he'd said gently. "Yes Master?" he replied, trying to make Obi Wan believe that he was fine. "Don't, Anakin, please don't pretend you're fine because you know we'll get nowhere," Obi Wan said, his voice softened, "What's wrong?" "I- it was a nightmare." Obi Wan pulled his young charge into his arms, holding him tight against him, stroking his hair. "Master, you left me, please don't. I- I love you, Master."**_

"_I hate you!" _rang in Obi Wan's ears. He couldn't stand it. He felt numb and alone. The one man he had counted on to always be there, to always love him was now a Sith Lord. He wanted to cry, he really did, but he couldn't. This all felt untrue. Like someone had placed him into another person's life. And, horrified, he realized Anakin's nightmare had come true. He'd left him. To die, to burn in that fiery hell. He didn't know where he was walking, but he just wanted to leave. He just wanted to never think or to feel ever again.

"Please don't hurt me!" Obi Wan heard a small voice cry out. "What?" he said, "Is there someone there?" Reaching out with the force he felt fear radiating around a small figure. However, he hardly needed to reach out; the force was drowning in the emotions of the irrational young person. "It's Master Kenobi, young one. I'm not going to hurt you," he promised.

_**The gentle hand on Anakin's face had shocked the boy. He had failed miserably in lightsaber training and had been softly crying. Anakin Skywalker never was good at hiding his tears from Master Obi Wan. He was expecting a blow, expecting to be punished. It was all he'd ever known. Obi Wan had been so disappointed in Anakin that he was certain Obi Wan was going to hit him. That's why he was so shocked when the hand on his cheek was kind. He'd looked into his master's blue-green eyes and realized they were concerned and worried, not angry and disappointed. "Why are you so afraid, little one?" Obi Wan had asked. "You, you aren't mad at me? You're not going to hurt me?" Anakin asked. The question had taken the young Jedi Master by surprise. "I'm not Watto. I'm not going to hit you when I'm mad. I'm not even mad, really. Just frustrated. With myself, not with you, I promise. So please don't cry," he said, wiping away the tears that flowed down Anakin's red cheeks, "I'm not going to hurt you."**_

"Master Kenobi!" the small voice exclaimed. "Master Kenobi, you haven't seen Master Skywalker, have you? Why did he hurt us? Why did he kill all my friends?" The child was distraught and thought that maybe the former master of the man who had destroyed pure and innocent life would have an answer. He sighed deeply, "I don't know, little one. I don't know."

"_**I don't know, little padawan, I wish I did, but I don't," Obi Wan said in a small voice. He was a master now; he was supposed to know everything now, like Qui Gon always had. He was supposed to comfort his padawan, not sit there like a sniveling little youngling who had scraped his knee. "I miss Qui Gon, Master," the young boy said. "Me too, padawan, me too," he answered quietly. "It's okay to be sad sometimes, Master," Anakin had assured Obi Wan. "I have to be strong for you, Anakin, don't you understand? I don't have time to be sad. I have to train you, to make my master proud," he countered. "What? It's only natural to be sad, Master. My mother always tells me it's okay to be sad. It's okay to cry, Master Obi Wan."**_

Obi Wan studied the child who had finally come out of her hiding spot. She had burn marks all over her skin and she was sitting completely still, making herself as small as possible. Reluctantly, she unraveled herself from her ball of safety and furiously wiped away her stray tears. He thought of the advice his young padawan had given him so very many years ago and decided it was fitting for the moment, "It's okay to cry." However, she was embarrassed, Obi Wan knew it. The way she straightened up her posture and pretended nothing was wrong proved his theory. Anakin always did this when he was young, he always pretended that nothing was wrong when something obviously was.

"_**Anakin, are you alright?" Obi Wan asked his silent padawan. He knew that Anakin had thought he wasn't looking, but his master had seen the tears sliding down his cheeks. Immediately Anakin straightened up and changed the subject. "Master, you're cooking is great, this dinner is delicious!" he complimented, a little too brightly. "Not that I don't appreciate, or deserve, that praise Anakin," Obi Wan trailed off sarcastically, "However, unfortunately for you it is going to take much more than that to convince me that you're alright." Surprisingly, Anakin held back no longer. Actually, he completely fell apart. His head was in his hands and he was sobbing uncontrollably. Well. Obi Wan had not been expecting this. He pushed out his dining chair and knelt beside Anakin. "Master, I'm so sorry," he sobbed. "Don't be, just tell me what is bothering you," he replied gently. The ten year old couldn't hold back any longer. "They all make fun of me!" he cried. "What?" Obi Wan said immediately, outraged. Anakin simply nodded, refusing to look at his master. Now, to Anakin's surprise, Obi Wan pulled out Anakin's chair and pulled him to the floor with him, hoisting him into his arms and holding him comfortingly. "They all say I'm a weak slave, Master. They say I should go back home to my Mom and Watto and that I'm not supposed to be a Jedi, that I don't belong."**_

"_Well, I guess he didn't belong,"_ Obi Wan thought bitterly, then immediately couldn't believe he had thought something like that. "Master," the small girl began, "I'm sorry for acting so childish." Obi Wan was shocked considering she was a child; she had the right to act childish. And childish is the last word Obi Wan would use to describe her. "Do not apologize, young one. Even I have found myself with little control of my emotions considering the circumstances," Obi Wan replied. She seemed comforted at the thought of a Jedi Master feeling emotional. "I'm so scared, Master Kenobi. What should I do?"

"_**Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What should we do?" the small child on the hologram asked Anakin. Then a flash of light and screams of pain and panic and Obi Wan couldn't bear to watch any longer. His padawan, his brother, had done this. Had killed innocent children. All for what? To save his beloved wife? To stop death? Well now he caused death, a massive slaughter of innocent younglings with no way to defend themselves. It sickened him to the most literal meaning of the word. He felt physically sick watching the children fall with screams that no one would hear. He felt sick when he thought of this man he had raised since childhood, this man who had become a murderer. **_

Murder was what this poor girl had just seen. Murder was what had almost become her destiny. But for some reason the force had given her a chance, and Obi Wan decided that he needed to comfort the child. "What's your name?" "Um, everyone just calls me Annie," she replied in a small voice. Of course they do. Of all the names in the world and her name had to be Annie. Cruel. "Well, Annie," Obi Wan said, wrapping an arm around the shivering child, "you're freezing!"

"_**Master, I'm freezing!" Anakin whined. Obi Wan inwardly groaned. His first mission with Anakin and he was already complaining. "A Jedi must be grateful for the things they have, my very young padawan," Obi Wan reminded, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. "But you don't understand, Master! You didn't live on a burning hot planet all of your life!" Anakin protested. "A Jedi must learn to adapt," he countered. "Yes Master," he grumbled. "However," Obi Wan said with a small smile, "I could spare my robe."**_

"Here, Annie, take my robe," he insisted. She smiled at the gesture, wrapping herself in a warm bundle. "Thank you, Master," she said quietly. Suddenly, she was looking around from body to body of her little friends. Tears welled in her chocolate brown eyes. "Master, why am I alive? I don't want to be alone! I want my friends back!"

_**Anakin stared at the bodies on the battlefield all around him. Obi Wan bolted to his friend's side, knowing very well that there lay a very good friend to his former padawan. He noticed the tracks of water down his dirty face and let out a small sigh. "Anakin, I'm sorry," he said softly. "Sorry?" Anakin had questioned angrily, "Sorry? Master they are dead! All of them, dead and all you can say is sorry? I should be dead too, you know! This is my fault, they were following my orders!" "Anakin, this is a war. People die and it's no one's fault," Obi Wan said sympathetically. Anakin's face darkened, "But it's my fault this time."**_

"Let's get you back," Obi Wan said, "I'm sure the crèche master will be glad to see you again." She sniffled, glancing back one final time at her friends who were now one with the force. Her tiny hand snaked its way into Obi Wan's larger one and she held tight. He gave it a small squeeze and took her to where she belonged.

When he entered his apartment everything was in its right place, but it felt all wrong. There were pictures of Anakin all over and there were presents he had been given and model ships left by Anakin even after he had left Obi Wan's apartment after becoming a knight. He knelt down and closed his eyes, meditating. He found it hard to focus on anything other than Anakin. It hurt, really it did, and he finally understood why attachment was forbidden. However, he regretted one thing. He regretted never telling Anakin how much he cared for him. Before falling deep into an intense meditation he thought one thing, "_I love you, my brother."_

_**The End **_


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